Elaine Duvalle
Elaine Duvalle (née Carrington) is a Dranish polician from the Conservative National Party (CNP) who founded the CNP in November 3389 after defecting from the Grand National Party (GNP). She is currently serving as a Member of Parliament and was the Mayor of Santa Sharika from 3375 to 3393. Early life Elaine Carrington was born on June 11, 3345 in Santa Shairka to middle-class parents, Robert Carrington, a civil engineer, and Catherine Carrington (née Murray), an accountant. She was raised in a devoutly religious and socially conservative family with three children: Jonathan (b. 3340), Mary (b. 3343) and herself. She lived first in Santa Sharika, before moving to Iglesia Mayor at the age of eleven, as her father was working on the construction of a major suspension bridge in that city. After two years, she moved back to Santa Sharika. At the age of fifteen, Carrington suffered a mental breakdown shortly after her father, with whom she had been very close, died in a construction accident. She became an alcoholic at a young age and broke off relations with her family. However, after five years of chronic depression, she recovered, and went to Santa Sharika National University to study, like her father, engineering. She would graduate a the top of her class. It was at this time that Carrington first became involved in politics. She joined the GNP youth organisation in the University in 3365, and rapidly rose up its ranks. By the time she left after completing her degree in 3368, she was the Campus Vice President. Nevertheless, after her university years, she abandoned politics despite her natural interest in it, and worked as an engineer for several years. Meanwhile, in 3369, Carrington married Michael Duvalle. Early political career However, Duvalle's interest in politics resurface shortly after in 3370. Although she continued to work as an engineer, she campaigned for long-service Santa Sharika Mayor John Williamson his his campaign for re-election. Williamson was successful and won another term. Duvalle also became a vocal critic of the Engineers Union, which she consistently refused to join despite potential implications for her engineering career. She was also an outspoken conservative. Her criticisms of the Engineers Union attracted the attention of more senior politicians. In 3374, Duvalle abandoned engineering altogether to focus on her nascent political career. She contested a City Council seat in the elections of 3374; she made it to the run-off, but failed to win election, winning 47.3% of the vote, against a popular incumbent. Nevertheless, this cemented her growing reputation as a rising star in the local GNP branch. In late 3375, the elections of that December were looming. John Williamson, having served for nearly two decades, announced that he would not attempt to win another term, and would be retiring from politics altogether. Over ten credible candidates attempted to receive the nomination of the GNP; however, to the surprise of everyone, it was Duvalle that won the nomination. The GNP's support nationwide was rising; however, voters in Santa Sharika had become bored with the GNP due to its lengthy dominance in the city, and thus the leadership decided to nominate a new face to encourage interest. With the GNP's endorsement, Duvalle went into the election against three, much more experienced, candidates. However, she came first in the first round by a significant margin, with 39.8% of the vote. She contested the run-off with Ayumi Takayama, the candidate nominated by Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC), who had served for a total of nine years in the City Council. Duvalle won the election with 55.1% of the vote, and the GNP won a majority of the seats in the City Council. Mayor of Santa Sharika Duvalle was sworn in as Mayor of Santa Sharika on December 8, 3375, after winning the Mayoral elections a week before. It did not take long for Duvalle's assertive and often uncompromising leadership style to become apparent. Some consequently praised her for her "courage", whilst others disliked her stubborn personality. Her colleague Rikuto Matsushima, Deputy Mayor from 3375 to 3383, stated after his retirement that: "We secretly disliked her, but at the same time we had a great respect for her. Her personality inspired a begrudging, fearful deference." During much of her tenure, Duvalle focused on aggressive eliminating waste and inefficiency. Bureaucracy was reduced to a minimum. Unsatisfactory council workers were dismissed without reservations. This gained her the hatred of public sector workers but won her popularity with the electorate in general. As a result of these policies, government spending in Santa Sharika was among the lowest in any local government area is Dranland, and therefore rates were also limited. In addition to this, Duvalle's unusual adeptness at political "arm-twisting" meant that she was easily able to obtain funds from the Valdor or national government, allowing her to pursue a program of infrastructure and transportation improvement. Among her top-priority projects were a spate of tourist developments on the Santa Sharika beachfront, the imprpvement of industrial infrastructure and the expansion of the seaport. Although Duvalle was heavily criticised by progressives and socialists for not spending enough on public services, her policies led to a significant increase in the standard of living, largely due to the economic growth that she encouraged, partly through her infrastructure construction programs, but mainly due to her reduction of a plethora of rates that the City Council has imposed. Economic development also took place in the fishing industry, which had long been struggling in Santa Sharika as a result of the local government's restrictive fishing quotas, which Duvalle relaxed, to the ire of environmentalists. Duvalle's popularity sagged in her first term due to the shock of her sudden and dramatic reforms, although in December 3379, she was able to convincingly win re-election as Mayor. Duvalle's next few terms largely saw a continuation of her previous policies, with few new reforms. However, as the success of her policies became increasingly apparent, Duvalle became very popular, winning increasing numbers of votes, and by increasingly large margins, at subsequent Mayoral elections in 3383, 3385 and 3389. Duvalle has often been considered one of the most successful Mayors of Santa Sharika, and Dranland in general, for a long time, and is regarded as a major improvement on her predecessor, John Williamson, whose leadership style was seen as weak and submissive. Despite being mainly pre-occupied with her duties of Mayor, Duvalle has never been loath to dabble in national politices. She first gained prominence on the national stage - as well as a boost of local popularity - when she stood for election as the leader of the GNP in 3381. She was convincingly trounced by Delia Breckinridge, but nevertheless won a significant number of votes. Being fellow traditionalists in the GNP, they quickly struck up a rapport. During the later years of her tenure, Duvalle became an increasingly vocal advocate for socially conservative policies, although she never revealed the full extend of her dissatisfaction with the'' socially liberal ''status quo until late 3389. She was one of Breckinridge's staunchest and most enthusiastic supporters despite her aforementioned defeat at her hands. She is a regular speaker at conferences held by the Conservative Citizen's Union (CCU), a major conservative pressure group, and other conservative or religious organisations, and often delivers sermons at her local church. CNP President In June 3389, the GNP, led by Breckinridge, contested simultaneous Presidential, Parliamentary and gubernatorial elections. The GNP fared poorly, losing its legislature plurality and the Presidency; Magadonia governor Vivian Trelawney failed to win re-election. Trelawney's disclosure about Breckinridge's plans to devolve authority over abortion to allow conservative provincial governments to ban it, without the scrutiny of a direct national ban, further weakened Breckinridge's leadership. As a result of the scandal, the Parliamentary GNP removed Breckinridge as its Chairperson. The Chairpersonship of the GNP was contested by Breckinridge and Janice LeCoultre, former Finance Minister and sister of former Prime Minister Marina LeCoultre. The former LeCoultre won with 61% of the vote in October, and succeeded Breckinridge as Chairperson. Duvalle, a supporter of Breckinridge, felt that the GNP's move towards social liberalism was unacceptable. This resulted in her surprise defection that came as another destabilising blow to the GNP. She then founded the Conservative National Party (CNP). She announced that she was leaving the GNP and establishing the CNP came at a CCU meeting in mid-November 3389, where she stated that: "I have been a loyal and committed member of the GNP for twenty-five years, but with recently developments at the highest levels of the national party organisation, I have come to a sobering and unfortunate conclusion. The beliefs of the GNP are no longer mine, and therefore, with sadness and regret, but also with hope for the restoration of the values of the Dranish nation, I will, with immediate effect, relinquish my membership of the GNP... I establish the Conservative National Party, devoted to the values of the family, to morality and tradition, to patriotism, and to the free market. United, we can from the spearhead of the thrust for national restoration, we can take the fight to Iglesia Mayor." Despite strong criticism from all of the three established parties, the GNP, PAC and Popular Party (PP), and notable politicians including former Prime Minister Marina LeCoultre, GNP Chairperson Janice LeCoultre and PP Leader Tom Marshall, two GNP parliamentarians, the veteran politician James McClellan and minority Kyo MP Orito Mori, daughter of former President Sosuke Mori, defected to the CNP. There was praise for the CNP from conservative elements of the PAC, but no defections, giving the CNP a Parliamentary caucus of two members. Vivian Trelwaney (the aforementioned Governor of Magadonia) also defected shortly after along with several less notable local officials. Duvalle soon developed a strong political enemity with PP Leader Tom Marshall. At the end of October, 3390, Duvalle announced that she would be running for one of the six seats in Santa Sharika. The CNP shortly confirmed that she would also be placed first on the party list for Valdor to ensure that she received a seat even if she lost in her constituency. She began campaigning in early November, almost three years prior to the election, due to LeCoultre's decision to start a GNP campaign in Santa Sharika to attempt to hold onto the former GNP stronghold. In April 3391, on Duvalle's instructions, the CNP's twin manifestos, Restoring Our Values ''and ''Building Our Nation were published, and shortly after, she embarked on a nationwide speaking tour to rally support for the CNP. The CNP's frontbench team was appointed in November, although Duvalle clearly stated that it was a set of tentative appointments. In the same month, Prime Minister Delia Breckinridge, who had been left without the support of her party for just over two years, challenged incumbent GNP Chairperson Janice LeCoultre for the Chairpersonship of the GNP. Duvalle expressed her support of Breckinridge, and stated that: "The CNP is willing to work with the GNP under her Breckinridge's leadership to achieve our common goals... I urge all of the delegates to the convention to vote for Breckinridge... Breckinridge must be restored so that our country can be restored. Otherwise, it leaves me with one option, and that is to fight our way, voter by voter, to Iglesia Mayor." Nevertheless, Breckinridge was defeated, and Duvalle expressed strong dissapointment at the result, and stated that the CNP alone now had the duty of restoring Dranish values. In late 3392, the proposal of the controversial and divisive Sanctity of Life and Marriage Act ''would precipitate, several months later, a major political drama in Dranland. The voting resulted in a massive backbench revolt in April, where twenty GNP MPs voted for the bill, and Delia Breckinbridge (who had just resigned as Prime Minister after losing a motion of confidence) abstained. Eventually, all twenty-one dissenting members left the GNP and joined the CNP. Breckinridge became the Parliamentary Chairperson. Member of Parliament In the elections of June 3393, Elaine Duvalle was elected to Parliament as a constituency representative for a constituency in eastern Santa Sharika, by an overwhelming margin in the second round. She took up her seat several days later. She was succeeded as Mayor by her Deputy Mayor Donato Rivero-Gómez (serving from 3385 - 3393), who had defected to the CNP from the GNP about a week after her defection. Duvalle was widely expected to become the Parliamentary Chairperson of the CNP as soon as she entered Parliament, but this expectation evaporated after Delia Breckinridge defected. Duvalle refused to consider challenging a far more senior politician, and became Vice Chairperson instead, replacing James McClellan, who went on to become one of the four deputy whips, and would occupy the newly created administraive position of First Secretary. Meanwhile, throught late 3393, the vicious personal rivalry between Duvalle and Marshall continued. After Marshall accused the CNP of rigging the elections (not explicitly, though) and called CNP supporters "morons", the two could not restrain themselves from sparring whenever they recieved the opportunity. In a high public incident during weekly Prime Minister's Questions, Duvalle and Marshall (then acting Prime Minister) were thrown out of Parliament's debating chamber by Speaker Joel Hudspeth after throwing personal insults at each other (for example, Marshall called Duvalle a "dumb bitch"). Despite this highly public shouting match, for which Duvalle later apologise, Duvalle would take a back seat to her new superior, Breckinridge, and would fade into relative obscurity compared to her fame and notability in earlier times. However, she is seen as the heir apparent to Breckinridge, although there is a possibility that Breckinridge will politically (and biologically) outlive Duvalle as she is five years younger. Duvalle returned to prominence in November 3396, when she decided to contest the CNP's nomination for the Presidential election in June 3397. Hearing of her intentions, all other major candidates for the nomination dropped out in her favour, and she won the nomination against several minor candidates with over 90% of the vote. She immediately launched her Presidential campaign. Duvalle crisscrossed the country rallying support for her election. However, her Presidential campaign failed despite her vigorous efforts, and she failed to make it to the runoff, having won just over an eighth of the total vote. Due to her focus on her Presidential campaign, she did not contest a constituency and instead was elected on the party list. Her son Alexander, who contested the consitutency in her place, failed to win election despite the strength of her support in 3393. These poor performances were attributed to the unexpected success of the far-right Valdorian Blue Shirt Movement. Decline In November 3397, Duvalle challenged Parliamentary Chairperson Delia Breckinridge for her position, along with several others. The first few rounds were characterised by tactical voting. However, when three candidates, Duvalle, Breckinridge and Foreign Affairs spokesperson Geoffrey Fox, were left standing, Breckinridge recognised the untenability of her position and endorsed Fox. In the subsequent ballot, abstentions prevented either remaining candidate from winning a majority. Fox became the next leader in an exceptionally close ballot in the National Convention in December. Although the Parliamentary leadership, which was long thought to be due to her, did not in 3397 come into her possession, Fox demonstrated his willingness to work with her by not attempting to have her removed as his deputy, and in fact gave her the party spokespersonship for Trade and Industry. However, Duvalle's political situation degenerated in August 3399, when the increasing libertarian-leaning Parliamentary Party ousted her as Vice Chairperson. When Geoffrey Fox lost a spill motion, she contested the Chaipersonship, but was defeated by Fox in the final round by a narrow margin. She then contested her position of Vice Chairperson against Chief Whip Margaret Woodhall, and failed to prevent the success of her challenger. Thus, Duvalle was, at a stroke, vastly reduced in importance, as were the more purist conservatives of the CNP. In 3402, Duvalle stood again for election to the Chairpersonship of the CNP Parliamentary Party. She was defeated by acting incumbent Margaret Woodhall in the final round. She would later become increasingly critical of the CNP leadership, especially its contemplation of a re-union with the GNP and its 'straying' from its conservative ideology. In early 3403, she declared that she would retire in two year's time, and shortly afterwards, resigned from the CNP frontbench team. Duvalle would consistently criticise the merger plans with the GNP, warning that it would alienate conservatives who might vote for the far-right Valdorian Blue Shirt Movement. Despite her predictions (which turned out to be true), the CNP leadership proceeded to obtain a merger deal. In November 3404, the Convention approved the merger, followed by a successful plebiscite in January 3405. The two parties merged in March. Duvalle refused to join the GNP, and remained an independent until the end of her term. Electoral record !colspan=5 align=center|Santa Sharika City Council (Ward 7) |- !align=center|Election !align=center|Primary Vote !align=center|% !align=center|2PP !align=center|% |- |align=left|Apr 3374||26,199||33.9||35,216||47.3 |} !colspan=5 align=center|Mayoralty of Santa Sharika |- !align=center|Election !align=center|Primary Vote !align=center|% !align=center|2PP !align=center|% |- |align=left|Dec 3375||486,182||39.8||643,625||55.1 |- |align=left|Dec 3379||462,657||36.1||654,806||54.0 |- |align=left|Dec 3383||532,203||40.1||720,774||56.2 |- |align=left|Jun 3385||579,169||43.9||759,767||59.3 |- |align=left|Jun 3389||581,462||44.6||768,874||59.8 |} !colspan=5 align=center|Parliament (East Beach, Valdor) |- !align=center|Election !align=center|Primary Vote !align=center|% !align=center|2PP !align=center|% |- |align=left|Jun 3393||102,398||49.4||118,519||61.9 |- |align=left|Jun 3401||92,183||40.3||106,101||50.9 |} !colspan=5 align=center|President of Dranland |- !align=center|Election !align=center|Primary Vote !align=center|% !align=center|2PP !align=center|% |- |align=left|Jun 3397||8,087,382||12.8||colspan=2|''Eliminated |} Personal life Duvalle is married to Michael Duvalle, whom she met as a fellow engineering student at Santa Sharika National University in 3367, a year before her graduation. They married in 3369. Their first child, Alexander, was born in 3371, followed by Jeanette in 3374 and Christopher in 3376. The twins David and Pauline were born in 3380. Alexander Duvalle has entered politics, while Jeanette and Pauline are both lawyers. Christopher Duvalle is a professional tennis player, and David is a software entrepreneur. Duvalle was brought up, as previously stated, in a devout Hosian family, and with the exception of a five-year period between 3360 and 3365, she has likewise been devoutly Hosian for her entire life. She has publicly stated that her faith has had a significant influence on her political views. Category:Dranian people Category:Politicians of Dranland